Kenya calls for global partnership in fighting terror
BY FAUXILE KIBET
LONDON: Kenya has urged security agencies worldwide to adopt an all-inclusive approach in its war against terror which is one of the leading security challenges in most countries across the globe.
Kenya’s president Uhuru Kenyatta who spoke at Chatham House in London during an event titled ‘Kenya’s Priorities for Inclusive Growth: Towards Domestic Development and Regional Peace, said that social equality cannot flourish where there is lack of security.
“We must also act together to equip our people to counter the threats of weaponised information, which is now perhaps the most insidious tool of the new age,” Mr Kenyatta said.
The Kenyan leader challenged the United Kingdom to support and develop stronger initiatives to prevent recruitment into terrorism and to seek ways to rehabilitate foreign terrorist fighters who have defected and returned home.
“We must make it harder for the anti-democratic, hate-filled fanatics who are organising against liberty and trying to turn our citizens into hateful, violent extremists,” he said.
He added that Al-Shabaab terrorists in Somalia still pose a security threat to locals and the region. Kenya has paid heavily for instability Somalia through loss of hundreds of lives to terrorist attacks, mostly by the terror group.
Though the militia have extensively been weakened, they still have a capacity to launch pockets of attacks in Somalia and the region.
DONOR AID
The Kenyan leader however cautioned development partners against using foreign aid to support policies that could destabilize nascent democracies.
He said that the developed world must be sensitive to the changing nature of governance to prevent their aid from eroding the stability of the countries they help.
“Your praiseworthy international aid expenditure must never contribute to the instability of democratic rule. There are too many risks and pitfalls in today’s world without friends adding to it, even if these actions are founded on noble intent,” Mr Kenyatta observed.
The United Kingdom’s International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt, on his part announced funding to help developing countries raise investment from global capital markets in their own currencies.
“Healthy financial markets create opportunities for new investment, trade and jobs, playing a critical role in delivering the global prosperity that benefits us all. What’s more, financial markets open the door to a future free from aid dependency,” Ms Mordaunt said.